10

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't blogged, I've had a crazy few days. between weekend service, open mic, opening the store, closing the store, and being at the church office, I haven't had a lot of time to do much of anything, including sleep.

Awesome news though!

When we moved out here Josh offered me 500-1000$ to cover moving expenses. He came into the store the other day and asked me if I would rather get that money, or have them buy Kelsey a ticket out here, then back for her wedding, then back again. So Kelsey will be here on Tuesday! I'm very excited, I certainly love that girl!

Everything else has been going the same. Finally settling into a routine. I found out that people not showing up when they say they will is not only a Colorado thing! No one showed up to Kaleos open mic on Saturday ha. I played a two hour set for a knitting circle.

Nick from the Portland team asked me if I wanted to start a folk band a few weeks ago. We had our first rehearsal last night, and it was a lot of fun. Nothing serious, just something to break the monotony of flavor-of-the-month-worship-music (all the other musicians involved in the project are involved in the worship ministry as well).

Finally found a group that wants to go NightPhantoming! That'll be some nice blog foder.

I have a mouse (or a ghost) living in my apartment. I haven't been able to get him out, but I'm sure I will.

Ok, That's all I have!

9

Hey!
I closed tonight, and I open in the morningg, then I have two hours to come home memorize three songs, get back to Kaleo at two, run rehearsal, run service, pack up for Portland, come home, sleep, get up at four-ish, pick up a few people, drive to portland, get the box truck, go to the theater, set up, rehearse, run the service, tear down, return the box truck, drive to dover, drop people off, drive home, sleep a few hours, get up at 5 to open at Kaleo, get off work, run an open mic until 9pm, then go home and CRASH. All that to say, there probably wont be a post tomorrow or Sunday, and there may be one Monday.

There was a high of 103 today. Un-frikin-real. Sorry all of these blogs have been short, and weather related. Hopefully after three days of little sleep and cafine I'll have an epiphany!
Gnight!

8

Yup. I missed a day. I don't have a good excuse this time. I started playing Assassins creed, and things just went downhill from there.

It has been flippin hot here the last few days. It broke 100 today. It sucked hard. not a lot has happened. We had rehearsal tonight with our new Portland drummer Patrick. He's really good, things should go well Sunday

I've been asked to run/play at an open Mic night every monday night at Kaleo, so I've been getting in some advertising for that. I have my own set all ready. I don't want to take it so seriously. I want to the mood lighthearted and fun, so here's my set list
Honest as a Noun- Andrew Jackson Jihad
Lady Killer- Andrew Jackson Jihad
Sittin' Pretty- Brendan Benson
Jolene- Dolly Parton
No Kings- Me
The River- Me
We are- Me
Old Enough-Racounters
Blister in the Sun- Vilonet Femes.

Nothing else interesting to report. Still having fun, still happy, still well fed.

7 (It's late, I was feeling philisophical...this may be stupid. Read with Grace)

I got my A/C today! I don't know how the NLC folk did it, but they did! Now I don't have to suffocate. I worked at Kaleo again today, and felt like it was time to let NLC see the steam punk goggles. It went over well, and with the addition of my spider-man shirt they decided to have an impromptu super hero day at the coffee house. This is a good thing.

Onto serious stuff.

I was at the office, and my mind started wondering, and I started thinking about Phantoming. For those you who don't know, Phantoming is when a group of us climb buildings, make up crazy names, and howl.

It sounds silly, I know but bear with me.

It sounds silly and immature, and like a stupid thing to spend time doing, but once you do it, some interesting things start coming up. It causes you to start looking at things differently. I started wondering why that is today.

I promise this is going somewhere

The first time the group takes you out phantoming, you're unsure of yourself. What if I fall? What if I get stuck? What If I can't make it up? However everyone in the group takes steps to make sure that doesn't happen. As you do it more, you become a lot more confident; a lot more independent; a lot more courageous. As a result the group dosen't have to help you as much

Gee Wade, is this a blog about trespassing, and confidence?

NO just keep reading!

Eventually, you get to a point where you are a decent climber. At this point you are given the "honor" (like I said, It's really silly) of leading a howl. You start howling, and the group joins you. You are no longer a follower, but a leader. No longer someone needing to be watched and kept track of, but an independent and able climber, ready to pass your skill on to the next individual.

Break time.

Dear Mom, Dad, Grandma, Papa, etc. I am aware that this is silly and dangerous. I am aware that climbing buildings wont lead to anything prosperous in the future. Dear Concerned parent worried about me corrupting the youth and filling their head with ridiculous building climbing, moon howling, face painting ideas, relax. I'm not saying that everyone should drop what they're doing and go climb a building (I do recommend it though ;)). Its a silly game we used to play, all I'm trying to do is illuminate a truth found in it.

Back to that truth

The reason phantoming was so enjoyable; the reason I looked forward to going again so much is because it ignited a transformation. It moved you from an unskilled person, to an able climber. It moved you from someone who had never seen a rooftop, to someone who commanded the respect of others. It defined you in the group, moved you from one thing to another.

I'm reminded of the Rites of Passage of other cultures. Breeching, Scarification, Dokimasia all represent(ed) an important transition from boy to man, just as phantoming illustrated a transition from new to skilled. Rites of Passage clearly defined a person. Before X event a person was a boy. After X event he was regarded as a man. He had earned his new title, and anyone who respected the title, respected him. Without it, he was undefined, both to himself and to society. He would float aimlessly, never really knowing where in life he was, the line between youth and adult clumsily tripped over instead of gracefully and honorably crossed. He would stumble into adulthood, scared and unprepared.

Perhaps a lack of ritual, a lack of definition, is why so many people stumble into adulthood, crash, and burn. We have no rite of passage into adult hood. High School you say? O joy, we can graph a parabola, but we don't know how to pay a utility bill. Highschool is a joke, College is a scam, and we come out the other end 30 year old boys (thank you fight club). We are kids, and suddenly we are adults with responsibilities we don't know how to handle. Would a rite of passage fix that? Not really, there will always be things to be learned, but with one there would be a title to uphold, and an identity to live up to.

A comfort is given to a Christian, however. Accepting Christ represents a milestone, a transition, an identity. Sinner being the old Identity, Salvation being the Rite, and Child of God being the new title, and the new identity to be lived up to. In Christ we find our title and our purpose.

Told you it would amount to something!

Or could be nothing. I might read this tomorrow and think "wow...that was freaking stupid" take this post down, and replace it with a picture of a dancing coffee bean (I cant get enough of that guy!!)

Sorry that was so long, and possibly stupid (I am writing late at night) but hey, It's a how I think.

I had chicken and dumplings for dinner, and had a little moment of longing for Grannys. I miss home, but this is where I should be. I called her in honor of my bagged dinner, and got to have a nice log conversation with her and my grandpa. I love them a lot, and can't wait to see them when I, or they, visit!

I trolled Facebook, and found out a lot more people are reading then I thought. I'll try to be a bit more descriptvie about inside info that I just assume people know!

Love you guys and thanks for reading!

5 & 6

Hey!
I know I missed yesterday, and I'm sorry, but no one died so relax. Yesterday was a pretty long day, and by the time I got home I couldn't blog. I got up 430 to leave for Ptown. The service went really well. We had the highest attendance since launch day at all the campuses! The band did a really good job, and sermon was really moving. All around good Sunday. After word Allen and Josh's families and I get to Ogunquit Beach. Ogunquit has a lot of rock ledges and walls that shoot up out of the water, I ended up not swimming, rather climbing those most of the day. I got to know Allens kids pretty well. they (3) are all younger (elementary schoolish?) and after searching for snails all day, we became best friends (apparently). Later on Joshes kids Malachai and Nehamia decided that since I had boots and was from Colorado I had to be a cowboy. They spent a good chunk of time asking me various cowboy related questions. It was fun watching them, and watching their Dads interact with them. I look forward to having kids some day (not someday soon.)

On the way home I got scolded for pronouncing all the letters in "Concord" and "Worchester". I refused to call them "concrd" and "Wstr". The people up here don't believe in Vowels.

So for those of you who don't know, Kelsey stayed in Colorado to work, and wont be out here until the end of August. I miss her a lot, and it's no fun. I can't wait for her to get here, but I can wait for skippy her bunny...he sucks.

Nick (Ptown guitarist) have decided to start a folk band. It's gonna be the best folk band in Dover. Really. Not making that up. Nicks a great guy, and I'm excited to be working with him.

I closed at Kaleo tonight by myself, and I've been freaking out about wether or not I did everything since I got home, even though I remember doing it (thanks mom). Am I rambling?

Welp....there are some peanut butter celery sticks calling my name
gnight!!!

Ps I'm only kidding about Skip!

4

YO YO YO!
Not alot to talk about today. Played the Dover location tonight, Portland in the morning. Met some folks interested in starting a folk band, skyped my parents, and ate fired rice. Not a lot. I have to get up at four am. Hopefully more eventful post tomorrow!

3

I remember what I wanted to say last night! I was so tired from rehearsal and what not I forgot it. Ok, a little back story first. I went to the new life school of worship one year ago, meaning that my class graduated, and another has graduated since then. After each school year the staff of NLSW post the resumes of all the graduating students on their website so churches can look for worship pastors. Good idea? Yes, if the site didn't take 41 years to load, and I wasn't at the bottom of it (alphabetical order). Remember this, It will come into play soon enough. After I graduated I tried to find a job, but didn't find anything. After a while I got into a bit of a rut. I wasn't working, and I was sort of trying to find a job. I was just floating through life with no real motivation.
Eventually I got fed up with it, got motivated, re-wrote my resume, and started sending it out to any and every church that needed a worship pastor. It was during this time that Next Level got their hands on a copy of my resume, but it wasn't the resume I was sending out. It was the resume from the NLSW website.

Here's why this is significant

First, as I already said, the website was poorly put together, and took a lot of patience to get fully loaded. Secondly, another years worth of students had been posted since mine, meaning ANOTHER insanely slow page had to be waded through. Thirdly, there are several much more qualified individuals in my class alone, and who knows about the following class. Lastly, the resume they had online for me was a joke. The one I had been sending out was much better. Up until last night I had assumed that NLC had just gotten one of the resumes I had been sending out (I wasn't keeping awesome records of who had and hadn't gotten it. Plus I couldn't imagine anyone getting the rez of my NLSW page would actually call). What I also didn't know was that several of my class mates, and students from the year after had already been contacted, and even come out to interview for this position, but I was the only one NLC felt comfortable with.

Okay, that's neat so what's this "big spiritual insight"

It's not as epic as I thought it was last night, but it's still pretty cool.

Firstly it proves that my being here wasn't an accident, and has been perfectly orchestrated. Secondly, I find it very interesting that It happened when I finally started making a good effort. True it wasn't a direct result of my effort, but the timing reveals some interesting truths. During the year I wasn't doing much of anything I did pray. I prayed hard for the right position to come along, but that's all I did. Nothing wrong with prayer, but I wasn't doing "my share of the work". Asking for something over and over again and expecting God to drop it in your lap is unrealistic, and I that is what he was trying to show me. God answers prayer, but it requires an effort on our part. It was planned, and orchestrated so that once I finally started putting a good effort into finding a job, one found me. It wasn't until I started doing something instead of praying, and feeling sorry for myself, that God aloud a work to take place.

So there it is. There's the spiritual truth. God doesn't work with people that aren't willing to try; aren't willing to walk the path so he can direct them. The path is full of obstacles, but God can't help you over them if all you do is sit and stare at them, and ask God to put you on the other side.

Deep huh? That's why I went to school. (hint of sarcasm)


I got a key to Kaleo (the coffee house) today. It's shiney and new. I have to go there now and make deliciouse beverages.
Goodnight/day/afternoon

Ps. This was written on the toilet. Is it somehow less profound now?

2

Hello again fine folks!
Today was a fine day at the office. Worked on stuff. It was neat. I had a profound spiritual insight earlier today, and was really excited to post it and change everyones life, but it has completely slipped my mind, and it's driving me nuts. Hopefully I'll remember it in a future post. Anyway, tonight was our first night rehearsing in our new rehearsal space. It's in a warehouse that is being used to house the box truck (the big truck we haul stuff to and from the theater in Portland.)

Here's the practice space with Nick (guitarist) and Allen (drummer and Ptown Campus Pastor). It's a decent room, with a big goofy world map dominating one wall.








Rhearsal went well. Nick Allen and I drove up early and had lunch. They're great guys, we had a lot of fun.

What was that flippin insight?

Since i can't remember, here are some rad pictures from around town. I feel like this post was hella boring, and I'm hungry.






Missing Cat poster. I know it's sad, but really really really funny.





This is the Kaleo Coffee Bean suit. Ed gets to wear it and dance. I make coffee. I'd like to switch for a day. Ed takes his job very seriously. Being a dancing bean is nothing to be taken lightly. He's a really awesome guy!






This is the car we were given. It isn't ready yet. Any day now.

I have Wireless internet now. This post was not written from the toilet, but it will happen, and I will let you know.


Goodnight!

1

Hello Everyone!

I've never blogged. I reckon I should start with why I started blogging, and what the purpose of this here blog is. I recently moved to New Hampshire to start working at Next Level Church. New Hampshire is very far from my friends and family, and this blog is here so that they (and you if you aren't a friend or family) can see what I'm up to. Also, I heard an awesome TED talk a few days back that talked about picking one thing you don't normally do, and doing it everyday for thirty days. This blog is one of those 30 day experiences. For the next 30 days there will be a new blog everyday, after that it should only be weekly, or bi-weekly. All logistical stuff aside, let's chat.

Next Level
Next Level Church is unlike any church I have ever attended/plugged in at. The way they (now "we") operate is by setting up small campuses, and teaching via video. So on any given Sunday an attendee will go to the campus of his/her choice, meet with people, hear live worship and campus specific/church specific announcements from the Campus Pastor, then watch a video teaching. Each campus has it's own worship team, volunteer staff, and campus pastor. There are currently three locations, Dover (the main location that meets Saturday night. This is when the message is given live and filmed. This is the sermon that all the other campuses hear the following day.), Newington, and Portland (which is were I currently lead worship).
Having these campuses allows the church to grow, while still maintaining a relatively "small church" feel. It's awesome.
The staff is also awesome. Pastor Josh is the boss, sr pastor, lead pastor, what-ever you would like to call him, point being he runs the show, and runs it well. The staff is full of extremely Godly, humble, giving, and loving men and women. It's awesome.
The church also owns a coffee shop called Kaleo. I'm working there 30/hrs to get some reliable income. It's easy and fun work and interacting with people is neat. While it isn't the most popular coffee shop in town, it's doing well. The backroom of Kaleo is where the Dover service is held/recorded.

If I've left anything out (and I know I have) go to www.nlc.tv to get more info.

The Move
The move out here was a lot of fun, and we clearly saw God move in it. My dad and I drove out together with a trailer full of stuff. Kelsey (my wife) stayed behind to shoot some weddings. She wont be out here until the end of august (which sucks pretty hard). We had no place to live out here, and no real plan of action once we got here. We just knew this was where God wanted us, and we came out here. We made the drive in three days. We got here, and within a few days found a cheap (700/mo) apartment available immediately. We were short on the security deposit and first moths rent, but God was gracious enough to give me the two most loving and supportive parents, who spotted the cash for us as a gift. They also are awesome.
The apartment itself isn't bad at all. spacious, safe area, close to work, might be mice, bee hive under the back porch, no A/C. Despite the negative, I love it (so far). I've man caved it up until Kelsey gets here!
When Kelsey and I decided to move out here we made the decision not to bring one of our cars, assuming most things would be in walking distance, and everything else would be easily accessible through public transportation. We can walk to most places, but the places we can't are pretty important (grocery store, Portland, etc). It became increasingly clear that we would need a car. We can't afford a car. Nither of our cars from CO will make the drive out here. Not a problem. As of now three people have offered to let use there "extra" car whenever we need, and a fourth guy is actually GIVING us a car for as long as we need it. God is a flippin awesome provider. That also shows the character of the people at the church. They don;t just talk the talk, they actually behave the way they say they do. They found out Kelsey and I don't have A/C in the house, and without hesitation offered to buy us one. I haven't been aloud to walk home from work, because a gaggle of people are willing to take me home, even if it means driving in from a few towns away. The people here are amazing.

30 Days
For the next 30 days I'm blogging, and running everyday. If anything eventful happens in regards to that, I'll let you know.

Conclusion

If I'm going to do this everyday for 30 days I need to save some material for later. Its 1135 and I would like ice cream.